Saturday, February 20, 2010

Quick trip to Bozeman

We took a quick three day trip to Bozeman over President's Day weekend to visit Mat's family because we didn't make it out there for the Holidays. We stayed in West Yellowstone on our way over there, and bought two sleds. Since Bozeman still had about two feet of snow on the ground, we got a lot of use out of the sleds. We also spent some time in the MSU bookstore, the Museum of the Rockies, and downtown shops. Mat's Grandma and Aunt graciously watched the boys on Valentine's Day so Mat and I could go out for dinner, and visit a couple of our old haunts.
We are amazed every day at how much the boys seem to grow and change. They are both about 3'-0" tall and have amazing vocablularies. They love to ask questions, sing songs, and give commands to Bridger (the dog). However, my favorite is waking up in the morning to the sound of their voices conversing with each other in their bedroom. They basically have free range of the house, but seem to prefer to play together in their bedroom. Unfortionately, staying in their bedroon doesn't keep them out of trouble. A couple of days ago I walked into their room, and they had taken evey single one of the diaper wipes out of the box (about 100 wipes) and left them in crinkled piles around the room. As soon as I walked into the room, they lept into their beds and blamed the mess on each other. Bed time can also be quite an event. As tired as the boys may seem, the minute the doors close they get their second wind. It typically takes about 45 minutes to an hour of Mat and I going in and out of their room to get them to sleep. They know better than to leave the room, and climb into each others beds to play. If unsupervised, their quiet paying usually escallates to jumping on the beds, laughing and climbing on the furniture. However, the other night they were strangely quiet after a couple of peeks into their room. So when I checked on them after about an hour I was surprised to see them curled up together on the floor in the middle of the room. They had drug their pillows, blankets, and stuffed animals onto the floor and fell asleep together. It was just too cute to move them, so we left them there for the night.

Friday, January 15, 2010

Coming to an end

Statuary Hall and the restored barrel vaulted ceiling
Senate Lounge
Senate Chamber



Goernor's Office




The dome from the central rotunda.





The central rotunda







The building exterior





A new meeting room in the new underground wings.








The new underground wings









As most of you know I have been working on the restoration of the Idaho State Capitol Building for most of the time we have lived in Boise. After 120 million dollars, and about 15,000 hours my project is quickly coming to an end. The Grand Opening, which was last week, lasted three days. The final day of the grand opening festivities was for the public, and after all the speeches ended the public was allowed to stream into the building. The building has been empty for almost three years, and it was great to finally see it alive and full of energy.

We saved as many of the historic elements off the building as was feasible, and I think that the original Architects would have been pleased. The beauty of the building had been slowing covered over the years as spaces were remodeled. We found lots of old memorabilia, and artifacts hidden deep in the walls and attic spaces. We also completely replaced the mechanical, plumbing, electronic, and technology systems which were badly outdated and inefficient. The amount of money the tax payers will save with these updated systems is immeasurable.

In about a month I will start on a new project. I'm not sure what that will be yet, but I'm sure it will be vastly different from this one.

Christmas 2009

Our daily visitor
The boy's first snowman






Caulder with Grandma and Grandpa at the Zoo Lights

Kesler playing in the 'dig' area at the Children's Museum.




Kess posing on a mossy tree.






Caulder and Kessler sporting their new BSU jerseys.





Christmas morning.







We spent Christmas this year in Portland visiting my parents and extended family. We arrived in Portland very late on Christmas Eve and then woke up early Christmas morning to a huge sea of presents under the tree. Needless to say the boys were a little overwhelmed. We cannot thank everyone enough for the wonderful presents. The boys have had so much fun playing with all their new toys, and we've had fun dressing them in all their new clothes! We went to Christmas dinner at my cousin's house. We enjoyed a delicious dinner, and the boys were treated to more gifts. They especially love their new Thomas the Train sets!
Unfortunately, our drive back to Welches went from a 30 minute drive to a three hour fiasco. We made it to within 15 minutes of my parents house and found the highway , closed. Apparently, an armed maniac was at large along the highway after killing his mother. We were forced to drive all the way around Mount Hood, and again arrived at my parents house late at night.
But our long trip couldn't dampen the two exciting pieces of news we received for the Holidays. My sister's boyfriend, Joe, proposed to her on Christmas. We are thrilled to make a trip back east for the wedding next fall! Congratulations Denice and Joe! We also found out about a week before Christmas that Mat's brother Chad and his girlfriend Shauna are expecting a baby in April! Caulder and Kessler are about to have a new cousin, and it's a girl!
The rest of the trip was much less eventful and much more relaxing. We took a trip into Portland to the Children's Museum and to the Zoo to see the Zoo Lights. It was a cold night, but we all had a great time. Mat and I left the boys with Grandma and Grandpa, and headed back into Portland for New Years. We went to dinner and then to a concert at the Mission Theater. We stayed downtown in a hotel that night and even slept in! It was a very fun night, and a much needed break.

It's winter

Hanging with buddies Owen and Collin
Culder at the indoor play park



Kessler sporting his new winter hat

Caulder helping shovel







Kessler bouncing in the new jumper they got for their Birthday.





We've been so bad about updating our blog lately. The holidays have been busy. I'm trying to make up for being tardy with the blog by posting multiple posts. Here are some winter photos.

Happy Second Birthday boys!!!!!

Kessler and Caulder trying out their new toys.


Caulder wearing, I mean eating cake.



Blowing out the candles.






Keaton riding two horses
Caulder, Kessler and Grandma Katie.






Kessler and his Mr. Potato head







The monkey cake.






Caulder the monkey







Caulder and Kessler are now two!!!!! We can hardly believe it! We had a small Birthday party for them with a monkey theme, which is very fitting for our two little monkeys. We were joined by Grandma Katie; Mike and Keaton Dahlberg; Ryan, Robyn, Owen, and Collin Morris, Uncle Chad, and Kevin and Ruth Schultz-Early. The boys had a great time and received many fabulous gifts. Happy Birthday Caulder and Kessler - We love you very much!

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Climbing out of the crib


Well, it's finally happened....Caulder climbed out of his crib. But it's not what you would expect. The day before he climbed out, he actually climbed in while I was changing Kessler. Then the next day Grandma Katie found him in Kessler's crib after their nap. I'm happy to know that he'd rather join his brother than explore the house. Kesler was happy about it too. He ran around the house for the rest of the day recapping Caulders launch into his crib.

The attached photo is of a steelhead Mat caught in the Boise River in town. The boys got to watch Mat gut and clean it. And of course they insisted on kissing the fish. Yuck.

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Halloween

Taking count of their loot





Kessler the Tiger
The Tiger and the Monkey.




Caulder the onkey














Caulder in the Corn maze












Kessler and Grandma











Caulder driving the car






Caulder roping a calf








Monkey Mat









The boys got their first taste of Trick-or-treating this year. We went with a few three year olds, and the boys had so much fun trying to keep up. They ended up with lots of candy (mostly because they did not understand that they were allowed to take only '1' candy frm each bowl). Since Caulder is such a Monkey, we picked out the costume for him. But, Kessler saw the tiger costume in the store and wouldn't leave without it. Earlier in the day we went to a pumpkin patch with a corn maze, pony rides, and a pig races. It was a great fall day. We also had a fun visit from Grandma Deedee and Anutie Jean. The boys had tons of fun